President Barack Obama is following through on his search for a “caucus of common sense” with that rarest of presidential commodities — his own time.
The president’s poor relationships with most rank-and-file congressional Republicans are well-known. He rarely calls lawmakers personally — something that was especially true in the past year and a half as he geared up for his re-election campaign.
But after spending weeks on an air war against the GOP and failing to get the party’s leadership to bend on the sequester, his tack changed after the March 1 deadline for automatic spending cuts hit.
In his news conference that day, Obama could find no fault in his own approach to getting a deal — infamously dismissing the idea that he could employ a “Jedi mind-meld” to get Republicans to budge. But he is now picking up the phone and calling them, and not just members of Republican leadership.
Obama in recent days has called a handful of rank-and-file Republicans, and Press Secretary Jay Carney has softened his own tone as the White House implores the GOP to compromise. “The president is interested in, you know, finding members of the caucus of common sense and working with them to bring about a resolution to this challenge,” Carney said. The president’s calls aren’t solely about the budget either — Carney noted Obama has also been reaching out on immigration and other pieces of his agenda.
READ MORE: Obama Reaches Out to GOP on Spending : Roll Call News.